past entries and links

Once my top page gets cluttered, I'll put all old entries here!

Oldest entries.

bassist's journal. november 25th, 2001. sunday, midday.

An e-mail to sarah, lead singer for our band DEFRAY and best friend since forever...

Subject: crap skate team and rant

To: sarahrose01@yahoo.com, danelectra@yahoo.com

hahaha.... i finally went and did it... i threw together a fake skateboard team and we're all in it. barg. hell, i'm at work and bored as hell. there's a link to it all on the "evil website of doom." plus, i was inspired by the latest issue of "thrasher," which i buy every chance i get for some damn reason. maybe when i'm 30 i'll be a real pro skater with and endorsement from independent truck company or something. hahaha.

how ya feelin' today? better, i hope. my brother is a wreck, too. hacking up a storm. hacking like an 80 year old emphasema crack junkie. i can't imagine him playing drums yesterday...he'd have started hacking, and we'd've had to quit for a whole minute before he could start up again. that was my excuse for our jumping off the show..."yeah, sorry we can't make it...my brother the drummer is sick, he worked out in the bad weather yesterday..." I know i didn't have to explain myself, but i'm stupid like that. it's like the fucking curse of National Band...get close to something, you're gonna get kaboshed. we're gonna have to reverse that jinx somehow. and i'm sorry, too, for getting all our hopes up about a show. i just saw the PSA here at the station and the first thing that popped into my head was "i've gotta do this thing." *sigh*

anyhowz...just thought i'd drop ya a line to tell ya...on Nov. 30th (this friday), there's gonna be this "open mic night" thing at the Winner high school music room. up to it? we can try this thing again, if you wanna do it. i'm gonna be up here that nite anyhow as i've gotta work the next day and i might as well come up...so i'm just gonna go and play some bass and make an ass of myself. gonna be a good time.

just thought i'd drop ya a quick line to let ya know about the latest developments. and i might be getting moved up to minneapolis next month, too, for real. at least i'm gonna finish filling out my St. Paul Public Housing Agency papers and finally finish my Music Tech application. i gotta get up to those cities and get some band shit going on. i'll have an apartment and stuff, and if you ever feel like movin' up to the cities and grabbing a good job, you'll have a place to stay and won't have to worry about rent until you get your financial business here at home in order. i don't know how i'm gonna pull it off, but i have to. i just can't be living in a place where all the gigs are two hours away. (all the gigs?? what am i talking about?? the few gigs that exist, i mean.)

anyhow...i hope i can stick to what i'm saying this time... i know i've probably spouted this same "i'm gettin' outta dodge" business a million times before, but i'm sick of people asking me how school is going. like it's their business in the first fucking place, and i'm sick of answering with a shrug and the fact that i'm still stuck at home.

geez, what a rant. well, that's what's new with me, anyway. time has come for action.

p.s. my skater name is "mutt." hahaha.....................ohh, barg.

~jean

bassist's journal. october 14th, 2001. late sunday morning.

Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum. Well, I pretty much have a plan in mind, but it unfortunately puts my bass aspirations on the backburner for the winter. If you've read my past posts, then you know I work at KWYR Radio in Winner, SD as a part-time DJ, a job I really love. I'm going to move to Winner and hunker down for the coming snows, make a little money and hopefully I will be in Minneapolis when spring comes 'round. It's not all bad...there are a couple of bands here in Winner, so maybe I can start another one. God, I hope so...

So anyway, that's about it for now. I still haven't gotten the pics of my amp developed (darned analog cameras...), but as soon as I do, they're going up. Wa-hoo!!

Enough bullshit for now. L8r!

~jean

bassist's journal. september 30th, 2001. sunday afternoon.

Hey howdy hey. I've been offline for ages now, but here I am, sneaking back on at work. There's not much going on right now...basswise, I've been practicing my ass off. Why is it that you can do it fine when you're not recording, and then the second you hit that red button, your skills go down the tube??!! Frustrations, frustrations...

Anyway, sorry for such a crappy update, but at least you all know I'm not dead. Sorry to disappoint. Ha ha! Er...*ahem.*

I think I need professional help. I'm addicted to Dragonball Z. Hopelessly. Beautifully. And I haven't even seen the uncut versions yet.

Oh, shit! That reminds me!! (Why DBZ reminded me of this, I have no idea...) I recently purchased an early-mid 60's vintage Fender Bassman from my school for a whopping 75 buckarooz. The sucker RULES!!!!! It's about 175 watts (I think...), a head and cab set-up. I took pictures of it... You gotta see this mofo! Stay tuned!!

~jean

bassist's journal. september 9th, 2001. sunday morning.

HOLY HELL!! 600 HITS??? Wow! When I started this little site, I had no idea so many people would check it out. I know for some of you, 600 hits is nothing, but please bear with me on this one. These days, I don't have much to celebrate.

I still haven't applied to Music Tech. I don't know why I'm sitting on my ass like this about it... I guess I'm worried I might not be good enough. I've gotta pull it all out of the bag this week, do or die. With work getting in the way EVERY DAMN DAY, my practice schedule has slipped considerably, and it's pissing me off beyond belief. I work TWO jobs now...here at the radio station and at a pizza place, cooking, cleaning, waitressing, crap like that. IT BLOWS!!! I took this job before remembering how much I loathe the food service industry. I guess my desperate need for money drowned out all else, and now I'm paying for it.

As you may be able to tell, I haven't had a very good time of it these past few days. My best friend Sarah has gone away to college and is having a great time, and I'm really happy for her. I just wish I could be in on it... Everything else blows right now. It makes me want to pack up for Minneapolis RIGHT NOW. Hell, maybe I will. Let me go check out some apartments...I'll get back to ya.

L8r.

~jean

bassist's journal. august 20th, 2001. monday night.

Sorry! I must apologize for my lack of updates!! I know. I'm terrible. As of today, I put all of the old entries into the journal archive, so if you wanna check out what's been happining, go for it, baby.

So, on to tell you what's knew. Friday night, Sarah's "something" Kellam and his good buddy Weez came to town to hang out. (p.s. Erratic Wanderer is Sarah...check out her site. Her coolness will blow you away.) Both avid guitarists, they brought their acoustic instruments. Weez played a Fender acoustic with a black finish...viva la tone! I got to play it, and it was a really nice instrument. I never had much faith in Fender acoustics until I played Weez's. I guess the only other time I've played 'em is in music stores, where they're all new and stiff and strung with factory noodles. His was nice and broke in, good mellow tone. As for Kellam, his weapon of choice was a sweet looking Washburn cutaway, a beautiful instrument with a natural finish and decorative fret inlays. It had a brighter tone than Weez's Fender, not as boomy, but a slightly smaller neck that my fingers found more comfortable.

All gear-talk aside, we had a great time sitting around, playing and singing, and talking all night. Most of the playing was done out along the Missouri River (Hookaville's just 20 miles or so from the most beautiful river land in the country), on a boat dock under the stars. You couldn't ask for a more wonderful scene. The only alcoholic part of the event was Weez (the only person of legal buying age) sidling up to a Coors Light 40, something I guess he can't get in his home state of North Dakota, and that was perfectly alright. Hell, ya gotta get it in when ya can.

I took tons of pictures and so did Weez, with his digital camera. He e-mailed 'em to Sarah, who's formatting them as we speak and going to e-mail 'em to me, so I can put 'em up. I'll also scan the pictures I have and get them up, too, because mine are more along the order of the guitar playing and would fit in nicely at this site.

Other than that, I'm working hard on my Music Tech demo material and plan to apply soon... So much to do, so little time!

ALSO, I'm in the market for an acoustic bass. The only one I have the money for is a Rogue, and I'm wondering if any of you bass cats out there have any experience with the Rogue name. They're cheap... Hope they're not total bombs!! Any advice is welcome big time.

I'd better stop before I type up the rest of my 50MB allotment. Until next time, keep it low....and rip your jazz band a new one!!

~jean

bassist's journal. august 1st. 2001.

I HAVE RETURNED. I finally visited Music Tech on 7/28, and most of my plans are cemented. Without a doubt, it's the school I want to go to. With me, I can't imagine anything else that I want to do. I want to be a musician, I want to play music for the rest of my days and I will do anything to take that further, including go to college for it.

And along in that vien, I've been busting my butt to get my playing up to par. For some reason, when I thought my old band had fallen apart, so did my practice schedule. I played, maybe, once or twice a week during my whole senior year. Of course, when Jazz Band season kicked up, I practiced a lot more, but no more excuses. Ever since I got back from the Twin Cities, I've been playing every day, and my best bud Sarah listens in every once in a while, giving me advice on what riffs I should put on my demo tape. She thinks it's a really good idea for me to throw on Rancid's "Journey to the End of East Bay" on there, and since I use it for a warm-up all the time, I figure that I probably will. Hell, stick to what you're good at, right?

Sticking to what I'm good at is fine, but I'm not gonna get very far on "Journey" alone. I know major scales, those are no problem... and arpeggios? No trouble there either. I just hope and pray and beg that I'm good enough. Hoping and praying won't do me much good however, if I don't get to practicing... So enough with the typing!! I hear the ol' Precision calling my name!!! Until next time,

~jean

bassist's journal. july 15, 2001. Sunday.

Well, I guess you really haven't been missing much. I haven't really been doing anything, just waiting to get up to Minneapolis on the 28th to tour the college I want to go to, a professional musician's school where I can get an Associate's and study bass for two years. I'm sure you've read about that on here someplace. I've got several bands on my backburner now, but I haven't done anything with them so far. ARRG!! Hell...maybe I'll go down to San Diego with Sarah and get some mojo goin' with Dean... Sarah, you know what I'm talking about.

Better run! More as it develops!!

~jean

bassist's journal. june 10th, 2001. Sunday.

Hey there. You may have noticed that on the home page, I renamed the site MOVING ON. I feel it's time to spread my wings and leave this little town of mine for larger pastures. Let's face it...I'm just not going to get very far here! I have no real plans as of yet, but that'll change.

Well, I haven't got much to tell this time 'round, just hope you like the new look. If not, tell me! Please?

-jean.

bassist's journal. june 3rd, 2001. Sunday.

Wa-hey once again! Check it out! My first weekend entry! It's a little odd to be typing this from a spot that's not my high school library, where the rest of these were done.

But anyhow...I'm here to update you all. I had a much more eventful weekend than usual, and in my mind, summer's HERE. I went to my cousin's wedding yesterday and made some connections (musical connections...) and hung with some people not too unlike myself. I took a shitload of pictures, and they'll be up here as soon as I get 'em developed.

The most important part of this whole deal was the musical connections I made. Two of my cousins, J.R. and Royce, play a mean punk guitar, and know the meaning of the term. With Royce in the picture, my band is COMPLETE! I asked him last night, and he said yes. WA-HOO!!!

However, I also met some people who told me that the other two musicians I had hooked up with were no good. They said some stuff that I'll have to take on credit...I'm not making any judgements until I hear for myself. That's the sad part... I haven't heard them yet! I gave out my phone # though...[crosses fingers again] The guy I gave it to said he knows some guys who want to play as bad as I do, and let me tell ya...that'd be a big plus.

It's getting on summer, alright. All the signs are here. Around Hookaville, the music scene is kicking up big time. Since my last real post, I've been to see two bands, both of which sucked ass.

Allow me to explain. The first band I went to was at the Christian youth center here in town, and was disappointed as hell (ha ha...) to see that they were 100% "praise and worship." They were a lot of older people from someplace in Nebraska. There was one plus, though. The bass player definately knew what he was doing. Needless to say, I left early.

Then there was Eclipse last night. They would've been better had their equipment not sabotaged them. They were one of those big bands with all the lights and the headset microphones and the shiny pants and all that crap to make up for their mediocre skill. They did mostly covers and a few originals, typical SD formula. The female singer was a firecracker, though. She really had a great voice, and was the band's saving grace.

Well, I've really typed you a novel this time 'round, so I'd better wrap it up here. Take care all, and I hope to have all the pictures I took of the above bands posted soon!! L8r.

~jean

bassist's journal. may 31st, 2001. Thursday.

Well, just dropping a quick note to let you all know that I'm NOT dead, and that I'll be gettin' back in the saddle SOON!

bassist's diary. may 21, 2001. Monday.

Well...it's over. I'm done. High school is no more a concern of mine!! But you know what? That also means no more jazz band, no more Hookaville Swingers! I'm going to go into withdrawl...I'm gonna start crawling all over the floor in agony...

Well, okay...I won't. But it feels a little like I might. I went to my big all night NON-ALCOHOL senior party last night, and Levi was there, a fellow alumnus of Hookaville High and damn good guitarist since fifth grade. He can play like NOBODY's business, but he must have a little stage fright, because he won't play in a band with me, a source of agony in my life ever since I heard him play "Cowgirl in the Sand" in Mrs. Hingebottom's fifth grade class.

But beyond all that, he had his guitar at the lodge the class rented last night, and he played, and I sat and listened, and wanted to cry. It's just not fair! Here he is, the best guitarist in all of the area, sitting right in front of me, a local guitar god, and so unwilling... But, it's alright. His playing is for him, I understand that. I just wish he would...dammit, anyhow!...

Well, I fell asleep at five in the morning. I was watching Wayne's World (Levi's favorite movie...) and was just gonna close my eyes for a second...when I opened them again, it's a quarter to nine. Me and Heather got up first and started to make breakfast for everyone. She made hashbrowns, bacon and fried ham, and I got busy with the scrambled eggs and pancakes. This morning was my first time cooking on a gas stove. Lucky I still have my eyebrows! Ha!

I'd better get a move on, busy finishing all my updates on this page. Lots to do! And by the way...some big changes are coming. This summer, I'm just gonna hang out in Hookaville and muster my forces, as it were...then in the fall, ADVENTURES IN SMALL TOWN MUSIC may have to change names to something like, oh, I dunno...THE ADVENTURES OF A PANICKED YOUNG BASSIST IN MINNEAPOLIS. Stay tuned over the summer, kids! Should be interesting!

~jean